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Question Help me understand Authority

Discussion in 'Multiplayer' started by s_marcell, Feb 25, 2022.

  1. s_marcell

    s_marcell

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2018
    Posts:
    19
    Hello everyone,

    I've started working on an Online Multiplayer project using Photon PUN 2.

    Over the past couple of days I've been searching the internet to find more information on the concepts of Server Authority, MasterClient and P2P.

    From what I understand:
    • Photon PUN is not designed to create Multiplayer Environments using an authoritative server (unless using plugins (?))
    • Photon Pun is a P2P solution that sets a regular client as MasterClient which can do more stuff than other regular clients
    As I was reading all these articles and forum posts the question of "How do I deal with cheaters?" started to become more and more urgent to answer.

    My main questions:
    • How do fellow indie developers approach this matter? There seem to be so many tutorials and implementations of P2P concepts using MasterClients. The OP's question in this forum post was something I was trying to find answers to but I'm not fully convinced. Is it just too difficult for an unexperienced dev to implement authoritative servers or does the P2P model work just fine in most cases?
    • Am I supposed to even care assigning more work to the MasterClient (to prevent cheating as well as regular stuff) if I know that they are only regular clients just as everybody else. They can hack into my game just as easily and ruin the experience for everybody in the same room.
    • Is it just enough to use Anti Cheat solutions such as the ones described in this article? Maybe something like this? I know "enough" is relative, I'm just looking for a somewhat conventional answer to the problem.
    My goal is not to build a system that is a 100% protected and safe. I'm just looking for a solution that is the most cost effective and there seem to be so many approaches and theories and not so much aggreement.

    Thank you for taking the time to read through my post, I'm looking forward to your answers.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2022
  2. toreau

    toreau

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2014
    Posts:
    204
    _diov likes this.